Women's Empowerment and Ideal Family Size: An Examination of DHS Empowerment Measures In Sub-Saharan Africa.

CONTEXT: The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) program collects data on women's empowerment, but little is known about how these measures perform in Sub-Saharan African countries. It is important to understand whether women's empowerment is associated with their ideal number of children and abilit...

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Publicado en:International Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health Vol. 38; no. 2; pp. 78 - 90
Autores principales: Upadhyay, Ushma D., Karasek, Deborah
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Guttmacher Institute, Inc. Jun2012
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Jun2012
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      pub: Guttmacher Institute, Inc.
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        atl: Women's Empowerment and Ideal Family Size: An Examination of DHS Empowerment Measures In Sub-Saharan Africa.
      aug:
        au:
          Upadhyay, Ushma D.
          Karasek, Deborah
        affil: Assistant research scientist, Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, University of California, San Francisco, USA
      sug:
        subj:
          Women's Health
          Mothers Africa South of the Sahara
          Empowerment Evaluation
          Family Relations
          Human
          Africa South of the Sahara
          Decision Making
          Maternal Role
          Linear Regression
          Multivariate Analysis
          Intimate Partner Violence
          Confidence Intervals
          Odds Ratio
          Conceptual Framework
          Data Analysis Software
          Female
          Adolescence
          Young Adult
          Adult
          Middle Age
          Adolescent: 13-18 years
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Middle Aged: 45-64 years
          Female
      ab: CONTEXT: The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) program collects data on women's empowerment, but little is known about how these measures perform in Sub-Saharan African countries. It is important to understand whether women's empowerment is associated with their ideal number of children and ability to limit fertility to that ideal number in the Sub-Saharan African context. METHODS: The analysis used couples data from DHS surveys in four Sub-Saharan African countries: Guinea, Mali, Namibia and Zambia. Women's empowerment was measured by participation in household decision making, attitudes toward wife beating and attitudes toward refusing sex with one's husband. Multivariable linear regression was used to model women's ideal number of children, and multivariable logistic regression was used to model women's odds of having more children than their ideal. RESULTS: In Guinea and Zambia, negative attitudes toward wife beating were associated with having a smaller ideal number of children (beta coefficients, -0.5 and -0.3, respectively). Greater household decision making was associated with a smaller ideal number of children only in Guinea (beta coefficient, -0.3). Additionally, household decision making and positive attitudes toward women's right to refuse sex were associated with elevated odds of having more children than desired in Namibia and Zambia, respectively (odds ratios, 2.3 and 1.4); negative attitudes toward wife beating were associated with reduced odds of the outcome in Mali (0.4). CONCLUSIONS: Women's empowerment--as assessed using currently available measures--is not consistently associated with a desire for smaller families or the ability to achieve desired fertility in these Sub-Saharan African countries. Further research is needed to determine what measures are most applicable for these contexts.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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